Start up problem

Hi,
When I turn on my computer, the first screen that comes up is the Dell screen with the Bios info. Also says F2 set up and F12 boot menu on that screen. After that screen it is supposed to go to the Windows start up screen, but what pops up instead is text on the lower left side of the screen that reads,"Diskette drive 0 seek failure"
"Press F1 to continue, F2 to enter set up"
How can I get that screen to not come up and just go to the Windows start up screen? Thanks.

 

The bigger question is what happens when you press any of those keys.

How old is this computer and have you had any problems with it before? What is the make and model?

Your operating system (windows ) is located on your hard drive as are all the files that are need to boot the sytem. It seems that none of this is being recognized. It is also possible that the hard drive has failed. You need to go into your bios and tell us what is say about a hard drive.

You also should look at the boot sequence and tell us what it says about the order (CD/DVD, HDD or Floppy) and in what order they appear.

 

I had this problem on my computer once, for some reason my bios thought my computer had a floppy drive. I just had to go into my bios and disable the 3.5 then i never had that problem again

 

Patrick, I think you are on to something. How do I get rid of the Floppy drive option on the BIOS? I don't have a floopy drive on my computer. Here is some info on my computer:
It is a Dell Inspiron 530 and is just over a year old. Recently made a couple of "clean" re-installs of Vista, but the problem was occurring before that. During startup when I go to F12, this is what I have:
Phoenix-Award BIOS CMOS Set Up Utility
I go to: Boot Device Configuration and the first thing on the list is Removable Device Priority, which goes to Floppy Drive when I hit enter.
Next is Hard Disk Priority
1. SATA-0 : Samsung HD501LJ
2. Bootable Add-in cards
First Boot Device (Hard Drive)
Second Boot Device (Hard Drive)
Third Boot Device (CDROM)
Boot Other Devices (Enabled)

Now when I go to F12 at start up, I get:
Boot Menu
Select a Boot First Device
-Floppy Disk (which is always the one highlighted when I go to that screen)
Hard Disk
-SATA-0 : Samsung HD501LJ
Bootable Add-in card
CDROM
Utility Partitions
I have tried various changes on both of these screens and nothing has worked. Maybe by removing the (non-existant) Floppy Drive option would work. How would I do that? Step by step directions would be very helpful. Thanks.

 

You should be able to change the order of the devices so the HDD is first.

If you are making changes and still getting the same result it may be that the Hard Drive has failed and as a result there is nothing to boot from. It is also possible that there is an issue with the bios. If you are comfortable inside the case I would suggest that you remove the cmos battery (it should look like a big watch battery) and leave it out for a minute or two and then return it. Shut down the PC while you are doing this.

Give this a bit of time this morning. This seems clearly to be a hardware issue and I will have someone with more expertise in this area get on to this.

 

I wish I was today would be going alot better then.

 

BeeCeeBee,
By removing the battery, does that re-set the BIOS? I went to My Computer and it shows that I have a floppy drive, which I don't really have. How would I disable that? Also, I can get into the case, but is there any special markings that would indicate it's the cmos battery? You mentioned a bad hard drive as a possibility, but when that message that I want to get rid of pops up, I hit F1 and Windows boots up and all seems to work fine. By the way, thanks for all your help . I will try to remove that battery tomorrow and see if that helps.

 

You added a bit more here than you had before. As for the CMOS battery it is pretty obvious so no problem there and yes it will reset the bios.

However, I think you should pay more attention to the post by allheart55 as that should accomplish everything that you want. It may be that resetting the bios will not help you at all if the default for the boot sequence has the floppy first.

On the other hand, allhearts instructions will insure that the sequence is proper.

 

Hi Pdunc

as already stated by Beeceebee the extra info on pressing the f1 key, makes me believe that the problem is with the boot sequence in the Bios, which Allheart55 has already posted instructions for.

I have been watching this thread and Patrick beat me to the first post of what the problem most likely was, and Allheart had already posted her instructions by the time i checked in again,

but if you follow her instructions you should be able to disable the floppy drive in the bios, without having to mess with resetting the bios as Beeceebee has already said, if you have any problems or questions or are unsure about anything please feel free to post your questions and I'm sure someone will answer them for you If I don't.

 

Allheart (and others),
I did what you suggested and it didn't help. There are a couple of differences on my Boot Configuration page. Just above the Hard Drive Priority, it says Removable Device Priority. When you expand that, it goes to floppy Drive with no other choices or way to turn it off. Because Removable Device Priority is above Hard Drive Priority, it doesn't seem to make a difference that I have the hard drive set to first boot, and the CDROM as second boot. I was having problems booting up about a week ago, as well as windows freezing up and actually having to hit the power button to turn the computer off. Not sure what I did to change settings, but for some reason my computer thinks I have a Floppy drive which I don't. I go to My Computer and it shows a Floppy Drive. Not sure where to go from here. Any other suggestions?

 

PROBLEM RESOLVED!! Thanks AllHeart and the rest of you for all the time you put into my problem. What I did was hit F2 at the start up to go to the BIOS settings. I scrolled down to Standard CMOS Features and expanded that. On CMOS Set Up Utility I was able to disable the 3.5 diskette feature. Starts up great now!

 

Whey hey A happy customer,
thats what we like, any other problems or any advice you want feel free to ask. we will only be to glad to help